Police Brutality Verdict with a Twist: A Playmate

A woman was awarded $1.2 million this week in a police brutality lawsuit that she filed against the New York City Police Department, involving injuries she suffered during a fight with police. The kicker that makes this story interesting: the woman is a former playboy playmate (do I capitalize playboy playmate?). Wait, it gets better. The playmate claims she is a direct descendant of John Adams.

The facts are, naturally, goofy. Our playmate claimed that she got into an argument with the cab driver because he refused to carry her bags into her apartment. Why did she think the cab driver was obligated to carry her bags? Obviously, because she is a playboy playmate. So the cab driver tops the plaintiff on the insanity scale by calling the police and saying the woman has a gun. She says the driver refused to help carry her bags into her apartment then called 911 and falsely told police she had a gun and was going to shoot him. He may have also mentioned she had vampire teeth which you would think would diminish his credibility.

The police apparently overreacted and made her drop to the ground to see if she had a firearm. She was dressed as former playmates do, so the idea she had a gun was absurd.

I don’t know all the facts. But here is what is more absurd. The jury awarded $1 million in future pain and suffering for an accident that happened 6 years ago in spite of the fact that the article on the case could not even articulate any physical injuries. The verdict was almost $400,000 more than the plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer asked the jury to award.